Little Bit of Bad News, Followed By Some Surprisingly Good News

I didn’t get the job in Charlotte that I so desperately wanted. I got the rejection email at the beginning of the week. It was a major blow to my confidence and self-esteem. I thought I nailed the initial interview and all but had my bags packed and a house picked out.

I’ve been trying to remain positive throughout the job-seeking process, but this really affected me in a big way. For the first time, I let the constant rejection of the past four months get the best of me and I started to get down on myself. I was starting to think negatively and took personally their decision to go with someone else.

Honestly, I don’t care who they decided to hire or how many years of experience the person who they chose has. They should’ve hired me because I would have been better. Their loss.

This past Wednesday, I took part in the Virginia Career Network’s (@VaCN) discussion on using social media to grow your professional network. I was a panel speaker, along with 3 others (@rickwhittington @MightyCasey @jasonlinas) who have much more experience in the professional networking field than I do, having only been unemployed for four months. However, I think it was great that we each had different viewpoints and could offer advice from the perspectives of those who are doing the hiring to those who are looking to be hired. All in all, I think the topics that we touched on – including how to engage potential employers and influential people online – will help the jobseekers as they dip their toes into the pool of social media for professional purposes.

I was a nervous wreck, not having done any public speaking since college. But I didn’t faint. So, you know, there’s that.

Then came the big news.

My wife got a job! She is now a kindergarten teacher in Chesterfield County – at a great school out in Midlothian. After working so hard to get her teaching license for the past howevermany years, and then finally being eligible to become a teacher when the economy is sliding and the Virginia education budget is slashed to reduce the amount of teachers on the payroll, she just didn’t think it was going to happen anytime soon. Luckily for us, the one school that is actually adding classrooms hired her. I’m so proud of her. She goes in tomorrow to start decorating her classroom. She’s going to be a great kindergarten teacher – one that the kids will remember for the rest of their lives.

This put the Charlotte rejection into perspective for me. It some cosmic way, I didn’t get that job so we wouldn’t be in the predicament of figuring out where we were going to live. Now that I know that we’re staying in Richmond, I can focus finding work here. I can begin to make a name for myself (whether by freelancing or whatever) in this city. This is a great thing for us. I’m happy to stay in Richmond. I’m going to be king of this city. As soon as I get some more money coming in.

Speaking of money…

Screw this whole unemployment thing. I mean, yeah, I’ll continue to feverishly look for regular 9-5 work, but this freelance writing thing is amazingly fun and I’ve never been happier in the work I create. I’ve met tons of people and can be extremely productive before I finish my coffee. All I need is another 2 or 3 clients and I think I’ll be alright.

That panel I participated in on Wednesday? Because of that, I have a meeting with someone this coming week about some social marketing work I can do for them. So I’ll be alright. I’m making unemployment work for me by doing what I love to do and getting paid for it. I guess since it’s not the traditional type of job, I still think of myself as an unemployed dude. But that’s starting to change.

If I keep getting work, I may just become my own business. That’s the direction I’m heading. We’ll see what happens. Until then:

This is Day 130, folks. 130 days of not having a traditional job. But I’m making a little bit of money – legally. So proud of Wifey. The kids in her class will be lucky to have her. No one can teach a kid to make macaroni art like her.

5 Responses

You mentioned, “I was a nervous wreck, not having done any public speaking since college. But I didn’t faint. So, you know, there’s that.”

You did an awesome job Reviews are in. Here is what people are saying.

103 attendees

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Kyle
“ Good topic – I liked the panel format. Excellent tips and insights on how to best use social media to assist with the job search. ”
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Michele
“ Super sources of great and timely information. ”
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Stan
“ This was my first meetup and it was a great experience. I got a chance to meet a few people beforehand and I thought the speakers were very informative. I took a LOT of notes.🙂 I will be back for more, for sure. ”
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Steve
“ Great session. Very informative and I enjoyed the presenters. Loved the venue too. ”
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Collins
“ Matt Harrington tore it up on topics of using blogs, twitter, linkedin, getting work from using these, and building useful connections. Rick Whittington’s third time sharing with VCN and he keeps getting better. Casey Quinlan hit a home run, had a great performance, warmed up/engaged/energized audience. Jason Linas made an especially good tie-in between personal branding and twitter-facebook-linkedin. All had great energy and enthusiasm and there were lots of take-aways for beginners to pros on social media tips/strategies. ”
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John
“ Collins had the opportunity to try something different by holding this meeting in a “hotel lobby” and I think he succeeded brilliantly. One or two of the panelists could have been a little more organized but overall it was a great event. People seemed to be more relaxed and sharing their thoughts more freely. Let’s have more events like this. ”
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Sylvia
“ Great panel of experts, and I gained some valuable tips on networking using social media. ”
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Chris
“ Good panel discussion, but everyone was from the web design or internet branding world. It would be interesting to hear any success or failure stories from people in other industries to see how effective the social media apps are for people who aren’t working in that world already. ”
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Dulaney
“ Great location and setting. Panel was a good balance of diverse experience and expertise. Enjoyed it and learned alot. Thanks for coordinating it. Hope to see more events at this location! ”
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Wendy
“ This was a great panel for jobseekers on how and why to use social media in your jobsearch. ”

sorry about the charlotte job, matt, but selfishly, i’m glad you’re hangin’ in richmond. and congrats to your wife!!! lily, my 6 year old, had an amazing k teacher last year. it makes a HUGE difference, having a teacher who is into their job and loves your kids. seriously. so happy for her.

and keep up the freelance! your attitude is infectious – glad you are not wallowing anymore, though you were certainly entitled to your couple of days’ worth of self-pity.